North Korea must pay the price for its latest nuclear test and rocket launch, South Korean President Park Geun-Hye said Tuesday, vowing to pressure Pyongyang into accepting den-uclearization as its only viable option for survival.

North Korea must pay the price for its latest nuclear test and rocket launch, South Korean President Park Geun-Hye said Tuesday, vowing to pressure Pyongyang into accepting de-nuclearization as its only viable option for survival.

In a televised speech to mark the anniversary of a key date in Korea's struggle against Japanese colonial rule, Park said failure to respond to the North's "reckless provocations" would only result in further nuclear tests.

"If we leave them alone, they will continue," said the president, who has significantly toughened her stance against Pyongyang in the wake of the North's fourth nuclear test on January 6 and a long-range rocket launch last month that was widely condemned as a ballistic missile test.

"North Korea must clearly understand... that they can no longer maintain their regime through nuclear weapons," Park said.

Her comments came as the UN Security Council prepared to vote Tuesday on a new US-drafted resolution that would impose the toughest sanctions yet on North Korea over its nuclear weapons program.

US ambassador to the UN Samantha Power said adoption of the resolution would send "an unambiguous and unyielding message to the DPRK regime: The world will not accept your proliferation. There will be consequences for your actions."

The draft text would require countries to take the unprecedented step of inspecting all cargo to and from North Korea, impose new trade restrictions and bar North Korean vessels suspected of carrying illegal goods from ports.